How many times have you heard that given as the reason to visit somewhere? Probably not too often, though I’m not alone. Anyone who loves wildlife spectacles will be thrilled by the sight of thousands and thousands and thousands of bats emerging from their caves at dusk, their tight formation creating a snake-live ribbon of motion across the sky as they head out to feed for the night.

Seeing this daily phenomenon was a key reason I included Khao Yai in our 3 week Thailand itinerary this year. Once I found out about the bats that emerge from their caves as the sun sets, Khao Yai rose to the top of the list!

Of course, there is plenty of other wildlife to see inside and outside Khao Yai National Park, as well as a range of other attractions in the area. As we had a rental car, we booked two days accommodation at the Nhapa Khaoyai Resort, an architectural gem less than 10 miles drive from the Northern entrance to Khao Yai National Park.

The car was a godsend for exploring the wider area – we visited local wineries, vibrant local food markets, an organic dairy farm and ice cream store, a chocolatier’s factory with onsite cafe, shop and restaurant, and even a couple of pick-your-own strawberry farms by the roadside. We also giggled at some of the over-the-top themed hotels the area has become known for, replicas of Italian hillside towns and traditional British villages of chocolate-box cottages, fairytale castles and Hobbit-homes, Wild West saloons and a futuristic space station…

To help give us the best chance of seeing both the bats and other wildlife inside the national park, we booked a private one day tour with a local operator, making a special request to leave the park early so that we could make it to the location of the bat caves in time to see the bats emerging.

Inside Khao Yai National Park, we enjoyed multiple sightings of White-handed gibbons (also known as Lar gibbons), which we were able to observe for some time as they gambolled in the trees. Surprisingly, these animals range from pale beige to almost black in colour, so much so that I initially thought they were two different species until our guide put me right. We also spotted three huge Great Hornbills up in the highest reaches of the trees, a Water Monitor lizard basking in the sun by a river, and several plodding Sambar and Barking deer. Had we been able to spend longer in the park, our guide may well have been able to find some of the wild Asian elephants that make their home here too.

Once we left the park, we had a 15 mile drive to the location of the bat caves, about 40 minutes on the road. I was surprised when we parked up to realise that the best viewing spot was a short stretch of dead-end tarmac in the heart of a rural farming area, bush and tree covered hills to one side, fields of crops to the other, and a few scattered farm houses amid the fields. No facilities have (thus far) been built to take advantage of visitors to this natural spectacle, and we shared the ‘bat show’ with a handful of other visitors.

Our guide walked us into a grove of trees, her experience of the wind, weather and bat behaviour predicting that they would first emerge quite low to the ground, passing over our heads, before swinging round by 80-90 degrees, and flying much, much higher off the ground.

We watched the sun set, knowing it wouldn’t be long afterwards that the bats started to exit the caves.

As we waited, two excitable dogs played an energetic game of chase through a wheat field, while swifts swooped and spiralled around us. Predator birds circled above the caves, knowing they could pick off a few of the bats – it’s why the bats exit the caves in big numbers – safety in crowds, the individual chance of a predator catching an individual bat is tiny.

Suddenly it was time, and the first few thousands of bats flew out of the caves. In January, the thick foliage on the hillside obscures the view of the cave openings, so the first you see of the animals is the undulating line against the blue sky.

Our guide was spot on, and we were alone standing right beneath their path. The noise they made sounded like the buzzing of a huge hive of bees. We cupped our ears towards the sound and I couldn’t believe how clearly we could hear the thrumming of their wings, thousands and thousands of them beating the air at high speed as they pelted from the caves.

After several minutes, the bats switched direction, almost as one, and the ribbon rose high into the sky. We stood beneath in rapt fascination as time ticked by. Half an hour later, the daily exodus hadn’t slowed, not for a moment. There was still a relentless stream of tiny flying mammals snaking across the sky, out across the landscape to find insects on which to feast.

Our guide said that it continues for well over an hour, sometimes two; she has watched until the sky has gone black and still there are bats coming out of the caves. Hard to even imagine the sheer number of tiny animals that must represent!

How to Find the Bat Caves of Khao Yai

It’s easy to drive in this area of Thailand, so don’t feel you must book a guided tour to see this wonderful wildlife spectacle. You can find the location using Google Maps – navigate to this point.

If you visit on your own, without a guide, make sure you time your visit to arrive just before sunset, and shortly afterwards, the bats will start to exit.

A Fantastic Khao Yai Hotel

Nhapa Khaoyai Resort is an architectural gem but as it’s located in a remote rural spot, it’s best if you have a rental car (as we did). The hotel is built within a disused stone quarry and each room is a stand-alone cube with floor-to-ceiling glass walls on at least two sides. Our cube was built right into the rock face, so that the rock itself formed the fourth wall – just beautiful! Another highlight is the modern and traditional art and pottery in the grounds, rooms and public spaces. There are two pretty pools, and the hotel offers full board dining. Let them know in advance of any food restrictions as it’s a no-choice menu each night. We paid 8,000 baht per night (full board).

Other Khao Yai Hotels We Shortlisted

Lala Mukha Tented Resort, as the name suggests, is a resort in which most of the rooms are tents. Like luxury safari camps common across Africa, the tents include comfortable beds and an ensuite bathroom.

U Khao Yai is one of many local resorts offering a classical European aesthetic.

It is quite an unusual phenomenon and one that is worth taking a trip for. I suppose you can only see them coming out of the caves but you yourself, cannot go into the caves – must be scary to do that as well. I hope I get to go and see this myself.

What an amazing experience! I’ve never visited Thailand but it sounds like a place where you can visit whatever the style of travel experience you are after. I love this kind of nature visit, I bet it stays with you now.

Lucy, yes Thailand has so many facets for visitors. You can be a beach baby in the most luxurious resorts, or more rustic and simple. You can explore nature in the 127 national parks and surrounding areas. You can enjoy the sights of the big cities, or the more chilled vibe of smaller ones. You can explore the culture all around the country. There are even wineyards in Thailand!

I went to New Zealand for the penguins and I would absolutely go to Khao Yai for the bats. This is a spectacle I have always wanted to see. I am fascinated with bats and wasn’t sure where I could see something like this.

I love travelling to see wildlife! Visiting rural Thailand is high on my near-future to-do list! I’ll definitely keep this activity in mind when planning a trip! Thanks so much for sharing such a detailed, engaging article 🙂
Happy Travels!

This is truly an amazing site to see…saw it happen in Battambang, Cambodia, didn’t realize Thailand had a go-to place for this too! Plus, you got to see white-handed gibbons, that’s extra awesome! love having specific reasons to travel, pushes you to go unexpected places.

Wow! What a fascinating sight to behold! This must be an enthralling and exhilarating experience! I didn’t know Thailand has a place like this. I would love to experience this magic in person. This gives me a reason to visit the country again. Thanks for sharing.

What an incredible natural sight! I know what you mean about bats – not a lot of people are fans. But I would totally go somewhere to see them, especially if there were as many as you saw. Adding this to my Thailand bucket list for sure! 🙂

We have a bridge with bats here in Phoenix (I guess like they do in Austin, Texas) but I have not visited yet. The bats play an important part of the ecosystem here with the saguaro cacti but I haven’t pulled myself together enough to go out to see a whole bunch at once!

Wow what an awesome experieence and very cool photos. For a minute there I thought you were going inside the caves and they would fly past you and I was like…. no way! So cool you got to see gibbons and lizards as well.

I think the locals have actually tried to block access to the caves because it can be quite dangerous, but also so that visitors don’t disturb the bats either. This is all from the road, and amazing to see!

I love the idea of getting away from it however I hate bats so I’m not sure I would want to do this exact trip. There used to be bats on the street where I lived and they freaked me out. Great sunset though

There’s plenty of other wildlife for you to enjoy in Thailand’s national parks, so you can definitely avoid the bats if you prefer but they are amazing and they stay up in the sky above you the whole time.

What a lovely and very different experience in Thailand. Honestly, I’m quite afraid of bats, and would be a bit nervous seeing them in a big group! However, your photos of the large migration is actually quite beautiful, and would love to see this if I ever return to Thailand one day.

Eek! I’d love to see this spectacle too, but I would be quite terrified of the bats at the same time, lol! It does look like a beautiful scene though. It’s crazy to think that there are so many of them that it can take well over an hour for them all to get outside! We are heading to Thailand later this year so we will have to consider adding this onto our itinerary!

that orange sky is so wonderful and what a good day you went out for that wonderful blue sky. The hotel you stay seemed like a good deal too and amazing location. We are looking forward to plan a similar trip!

What a cool experience getting to see the bats take off en-mass like that. That’s interesting to read about the loud noise they make. Fascinating. The resort, on the other hand, is one amazing piece of architecture. Will be heading back to Thailand later this year and I’m quite curious about checking out Khao Yai and the resort. Thanks for the tip!

Woah, it must be quite an experience to see that massive number of bats flying out of the cave. The sunset that follows looks amazing as well. Hopefully I will get a chance to visit this place on my next trip to Thailand!

Bats always creeped me out a little bit and seeing so many at once seems like a scary but awe-inspiring experience. I can’t even fathom thousands of bats at once, especially since it only takes one for me to be a bit grossed out haah

This is so fascinating! I never particularly liked bats until I learned they consume mosquitos! Having grown up in an area which has a huge mosquito population, that was all I needed to hear for them to become one of my favorite animals! 😉

Bat caves have not traditionally been high on my wish list. I have this big fear of bats getting tangled up in my hair. Had a scary experience as a child. I understand your comment about enjoying seeing thousands of them all launch at once. It was quite amazing to see that in Cairns, Australia. But we watched that spectacle out of the path of the bats. I don’t think I would want to be under that thumping sound of wings.

Luckily in this case, you are standing far below the caves entrance/ exit so they don’t swoop down to where you are at all, they are far above you even when they were at a lower height for a while before they went up really really high! Also, the sound if they are lowish (still way above you) is like buzzing bees, not super loud, you can help to hear the thrumming wings by cupping your ears but if you don’t want to, you can not cup them!

I have for some reason always imagined that bats stay inside the caves only. So when I started reading the post I thought you would be going inside the caves. But I was amazed to read that they cfly out in such large numbers that the sky gets blackened. What a fascinating spectacle. I watched the video too and this is a truly spectacular phenomenon.

Wow, this looks amazing. I love travelling to see nature. I have always thought Thailand was just beaches and temples but I guess not. Thanks for opening my eyes, definitely adding this to my bucket list!

So much more! I’ve shared several posts on our different experiences there on a three week itinerary, and we didn’t even do the beaches! Click on Thailand at the bottom of the post to find the rest, if you’d like to read more.

Haha! Actually my mom went to a tiny village in southern India just to see the bats there.
So, its ok, I can totally relate to it if you went somewhere for that reason.
If I ever plan a trip to Thailand, I’ll definitely make sure to head here.

I have never heard of the Khao Yai National Park, but certainly the place looks very interesting. I’m generally scared of encountering bats in closed places, considering this is in cave I am not sure I have to me to tour it. But spotting the different types bats will certainly be very fun.

What an experience, we saw quite a few bat filled caves in Thailand but nothing as incredible as this. When we return to Thailand we will be sure to check it out! It’s great to discover new places to visit!

wow that is a lot of bats but so intriguing and interesting to watch in the wild. I have not heard of anyone hiring a car in Thailand before which I think it is pretty cool. I really Nhapa Khaoyai Resort and I agree it is definitely an architectural gem. Thanks for the tip that you would need a car to get there as it is so remote

Wow it is great that you included beautiful caves of Kaho Yai in your 3 week tour to Thailand. Wow you could see bunch of bats flying over you and it must be interesting to watch them flying in flock. Khao Yai hotel looks for perfect stay!